India to Receive New K-pop Album Listening Sessions

As K-pop’s presence grows steadily in the global music scene with more countries getting involved and demanding tours from Korean artists, India is certainly no exception. While the hype here is still smaller than other countries, it is no less dedicated and on a steady upward trajectory; Indian K-pop fans are putting in their personal strengths and skills towards bringing their favorite South Korean musicians into mainstream spotlights within India.

Newly-launched Mumbai independent events property ButterNyan Entertainment is one such example, aiming to push the gig side of the K-pop movement with a listening session series. The debut edition will feature South Korea’s biggest boy group BTS’ highly anticipated upcoming mini-album Love Yourself 承 ‘Her’ and will take place in Mumbai in association with The Hive. The album, which releases on September 18th, has already sold more than 1.05 million physical copies in pre-orders alone and is projected to be one of the biggest K-pop comebacks of the year. Set to start at 4pm on September 24th at Brewbot in Andheri, the fully fan-funded BTS Love Yourself 承 ‘Her’ listening session will be free of cost and open to anyone curious about the hype around BTS and K-pop. The debut session will be followed by regular listening sessions for albums by various artists from around East Asia.

Founded by FilterCopy writer Madhu Gudi and Only Much Louder artist manager Madhura Rumde, ButterNyan Entertainment aims to provide a space for fans of East Asian culture to celebrate the artists they love. “Madhura and I have been fans of Japanese and Korean entertainment for a while but for the longest time, it seemed to have a closed and extremely niche fan base in India,” says Gudi. She points out that while there are spaces being created for comedy, poetry and more, there isn’t much activity in the scene for fans of East Asian entertainment. “It is a very exciting time for East Asian pop culture in India which has a community of anime fans, cosplayers, fans of K-dramas and Japanese movies,” Gudi says. “So we want to build a culture where people not only consume it online but also are able to do so offline.”

It was the sudden acceleration of the South Korean music scene’s popularity in India over the past few months that finally convinced the duo it was the right time to act. “We saw the Rolling Stone India interview with BTS crash their website due to a massive response, we saw 2500 people attending a K-pop event in Delhi where idol group Lucente performed and we saw Vh1 India giving in to fan demands to start an exclusive slot on the channel for K-pop.” Post these events, Gudi and Rumde realized there was a major opportunity to build the bones of something huge. “We’ve always dreamed of nurturing a fresh scene and creating spaces and communities where people of similar tastes can come together.”

Having been a part of the Indian indie entertainment space for years now, Gudi and Rumde have experience in everything from artist management to dealing with tech riders, reporting and organizing several of the country’s biggest music festivals. They hope that this understanding of the Indian music industry can help ButterNyan Entertainment add to the country’s potential as a frequent addition on more East Asian artists’ tour dates. “It is of course going to be a challenge for us,” admits Gudi. “We have a long, long way to go but it doesn’t deter us because this is what we feel the community in India needs right now.”

As more people discover the music through these listening sessions, ButterNyan Entertainment eventually plans on expanding the series into gigs by bringing down various bands and artists from across Asia, hopefully starting a new culture of Indian concert-goers for whom language isn’t a barrier. “We are open to partnerships, creating content, brand solutions—it really depends on where this takes us,” says Gudi. “Long term, the possibilities are endless.”

For more information, K-pop merchandise and to RSVP to this event, click here.